May 2022
11May

UK. Queen’s Speech measures spark protests

There was no mention of automatic enrolment reform in the Queen’s Speech, but bills around local boycotts, online safety and a revamped audit and reporting framework will all impact the industry, experts have said. Campaigners have promised to take to the streets to protest a bill aimed at tackling local boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns by public bodies including the Local Government Pension Scheme. Meanwhile, pensions minister Guy Opperman has promised that a consultation into a new value for money framework...

May 11, 2022
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11May

Zimbabwe: Low Pensions Force Workers to Resist Retirement

Low pensions payouts by both private and public sectors to workers has forced many to shun retirement. Some workers have reportedly gone to the extent of misrepresenting their dates of birth to postpone retirement from the organisations they would have served. What makes it worse is that the ongoing hyperinflation and which is eating into incomes as well as very low remuneration by both private companies and the government. In some instances, workers who have reached pensionable age die at work due...

May 11, 2022
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11May

Large corporate defined benefit plans in Canada are fully funded

Corporate defined benefit plans of public companies in Canada surged to 100% funding with higher discount rates. Asset allocations were little changed. Liability-driven investing continued to be at the forefront with about 50% of assets invested in fixed income. Alternative investments did increase to 7.7%, which was the highest allocation since data have been tracked. The median funded status increased to 100.3% up from 91.5% in 2020. This was the first time the median funding level increased to more than 100%...

May 11, 2022
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11May

US. Companies Race to Offload Pension Risk as Market Volatility Rises

The market for pension risk transfers is booming. In the first quarter of 2022, U.S. pension risk transfers reached $5.5 billion in total market volume, marking its largest quarter to date, according to Legal & General Retirement America’s pension risk transfer monitor. A PRT deal happens when a retirement provider — usually a corporate pension plan sponsor — unloads a portion of (or all) of its liabilities to an insurance company. Beth Ashmore, managing director of retirement at Willis Towers Watson,...

May 11, 2022
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10May

US. The Impact Of Government Retirement Requirements On Small-Business Owners

Retirement funds in America accumulate mainly through employer-sponsored plans including 401(k) accounts. As of 2021, 68% of private industry workers had access to this type of plan. However, while an exact number is not known, in 2017, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that only 41% of those with access to a 401(k) contributed to it. As a response to this issue, a number of states have passed retirement mandates requiring businesses to offer their employees a retirement savings plan. While...

May 10, 2022
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10May

Kenya. Reform laws on pensions to spur growth in savings

Whilst the Kenyan pension sector is the biggest in the region, we are yet to exploit its full potential as the penetration rate remains just about 20 per cent of the working class in both formal and informal sectors. Apart from the mention of the registration of The Kenya National Entrepreneurs Savings Trust (KNEST) during the 2022/2023 budget, a government-backed pension scheme for informal workers, there were no other proposals directed towards accelerating the development of the pension sector. There is...

May 10, 2022
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10May

More tax for thousands of retirees in South Africa

Thousands of retirees will find lower-than-expected pensions in their bank accounts at the end of this month owing to higher tax deductions. Thousands more already had this experience at the end of last month. This is as a result of administrators implementing tax directives issued by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) in an attempt to ensure the correct tax is collected upfront from retirees who receive more than one pension or a pension and salary income, said consumer financial...

May 10, 2022
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10May

UK. FCA needs more crypto experience, expert warns

The FCA needs more experience with crypto in order to understand the asset class fully, an expert has warned. Mark Aruliah, senior policy adviser at blockchain analysis firm Elliptic, who spent a number of years as a technical specialist at the FCA, said he doesn’t see any strong advantages in being in the UK as a crypto firm. “I’m not saying the UK regulator is in a positive or negative position, I think the jury is out for me,” he said. Speaking...

May 10, 2022
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10May

Nigeria. Pension fund assets now worth N13.88tr

Pension fund assets grew by N453.8 billion to a historic N13.88 trillion in the first of quarter of the year ended March 2022 (Q1 2022), and assets under management rose 3.38 per cent above N13.4 billion in December 2021. Data compiled by the National Pension Commission (PenCom) also shows that 12,336 Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) contributors switched their Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) between PFAs in Q1 2022. This is 4.2 per cent lower than the 12,874 who switched in Q4 2021...

May 10, 2022
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09May

Half of older women fear having to work beyond UK state pension age – study

Half of older women fear they will have to keep working beyond the state pension age in order to make ends meet, according to research. As many as 53% of women aged 45 and over surveyed by the older worker advice website Workingwise.co.uk said they were concerned that their pension would not be enough for them to be financially independent in later life. The study, carried out to investigate women’s economic situation as they approach retirement, exposes the lasting impact that...

May 9, 2022
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